American Energy Alliance Backs Coalition of 19 Other Organizations for Congress to Vote on Resolution Opposing a Carbon Tax

Taylor Smith is a policy analyst for the Government Relations Department at The Heartland Institute. His responsibilities include interacting with elected officials and staff on energy and environment issues; tracking new legislation; and drafting responses to emerging issues via talking points, news releases, and op-ed pieces, with the goal of informing legislators about free-market ideas. He is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force, and has been published in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Times, The Detroit News, and elsewhere.

According to AEA, a carbon tax would grow the size of the federal government, slow economic growth, and place a disproportionate economic burden on those with the least capacity to absorb higher energy costs.

The American people and the 133 cosponsors of this concurrent resolution understand that a carbon tax is not about protecting the environment, but rather it is a cynical attempt to raise revenue for Washington’s insatiable appetite for more and more spending. Supporters claim that a carbon tax would not increase taxes since revenues would be offset by reductions elsewhere, but careful analysis shows what the American people instinctively know to be true— new taxes always lead to a higher tax burden for Americans, regardless of promises that are made about “revenue neutrality”